Anti-drone protests hit CEO's home

San Diego Police Sgt. Dan Sayasane looks on as a small radio controlled quadcopter to simulate a drone lands in the hand of CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin during an anti-drone protest in front of the La Jolla home of James Neal Blue, CEO of General Atomics, makers of drones used by the military. The drone was confiscated as it violated an ordinance requiring a permit to fly. It was returned with the understanding it wouldn't fly again without a permit.
— Howard Lipin

San Diego Police Sgt. Dan Sayasane looks on as a small radio controlled quadcopter to simulate a drone lands in the hand of CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin during an anti-drone protest in front of the La Jolla home of James Neal Blue, CEO of General Atomics, makers of drones used by the military. The drone was confiscated as it violated an ordinance requiring a permit to fly. It was returned with the understanding it wouldn't fly again without a permit.
— Howard Lipin

San Diego’s “drone zone” manufacturing hub is under fire from groups opposed to unmanned aerial vehicles carrying out deadly overseas strikes and their use as a furtive eye in the sky.

A series of small protests that began Thursday continued Friday and culminate Saturday afternoon at the USS Midway Museum on Harbor Drive.

The demonstrations are part of a nationwide effort by activist groups seeking to focus attention on a growing debate over the technology and come as a business and military group seeks to have the region declared one of five national test zones for drones, which generate more than $1 billion a year in the local economy.

Early Friday, about 40 protesters organized by the group CodePink descended on an upscale La Jolla neighborhood to stage a street demonstration in front of the home of Neal Blue, chief executive officer of General Atomics, which manufactures the Predator drone.

Some held signs decrying drones, a man portraying Blue sang “I’m a Drone Man” in a twist on the song “Soul Man.” Others mocked the business executive’s wealth.

The group conducted a similar demonstration later Friday at General Atomics La Jolla offices before moving to Northrop Grumman in Kearny Mesa, whose products include the Global Hawk.

At all the events, protesters also chided President Barack Obama for his administration’s use of drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

At Blue’s gated home, protesters had to abort plan to fly a small, drone-like vehicle equipped with a camera of the house. San Diego police stopped the craft’s operator, saying no permit for such a flight had been secured.

No one emerged from the residence in response to protesters’ chants, and a company spokesman later said he was out of town. The company issued a statement saying it was proud of its remotely piloted aircraft which “protect our troops and support national security.”

“GA is honored that it can contribute in this way while at the same time recognizing the right to demonstrate,” the statement said.

CodePink and groups such as San Diego Veterans for Peace contend foreign drones strikes are responsible for thousands of innocent civilian deaths.

Demonstrators such as 79-year-old are Barbara Briggs-Letson say they hope public displays serve as a catalyst.

“What I want to see is a transparent, national discussion about our use of drones,” she said. CodePink co-founder Medea Benjaminsaid the group had a simple message for drone manufacturers.

“This is not the kind of world we want to live in,” she said. “We think we are beginning to turn the tide on public opinion.”

The failure of the planned drone flyover of Blue’s home bordered on absurd, said Benjamin, whose group took its name from the color-code system used by the George W. Bush administration to indicate the nation’s security status.

“It’s ironic that we almost lost our drone because the police said it might hurt somebody,” she said.

The San Diego region employs more than 7,100 people in its unmanned aerial vehicle sector generating $1.3 billion in economic activity in 2011, according to a study by the National University System.

The San Diego Military Advisory Council and the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation are leading an effort to have the area certified as one of six congressional mandate drone test sites. Similar applications have come from dozens of other groups in 37 other states eying the potential for thousands of additional jobs and millions more being pumped into the local economy.

Mark Cafferty heads the EDC’s role in the application and says winning the designation would be a boon.

“Unmanned systems are critical to advancing everything from firefighting to protecting agriculture to search and rescue efforts, predicting weather and inspecting utility lines,” he said. “This is a significant local economic opportunity for an industry rooted in the region that is developing cutting edge technology with humanitarian, practical and safety purposes. We see this as a smart economic strategy at a time when our economy continues to face numerous challenges.”

Cafferty stressed that the Federal Aviation Administration, which will select the six test sites as part of its work to develop regulations for drones over U.S. airspace, has indicated no flights would take place over the San Diego metro area.

At the Veterans Legal Clinic at the University of San Diego, supervising attorney and former Marine Robert Muth said drones provide war zone commanders an invaluable resource.

“They give a great battlefield picture and can provide intelligence and a strike capability,” he said. “The question is what is the framework for review of how they’re being used and who gets to make those decisions.”

He also predicted more will be flying in American airspace as police and other agencies increasingly seek to employ them, a prospect that chills civil libertarians.

“The key will be finding a way to balance their very valuable benefits to law enforcement while keeping in mind privacy rights and making sure we don’t become a police state,” Muth said.

One of the demonstrators, 83-three-year-old Miriam Clark of Encinitas, said she worries about the same.

“We somehow manage to turn everything that can be beneficial into something lethal,” Clark said.